High school football jamborees can help … or hurt

Itawamba AHS senior running back Ashton Shumpert knows how much impact a preseason football jamboree can have on a season.
“It affected my season a whole lot last year,” Shumpert said.
The effect wasn’t positive. Then a junior at Tupelo, the highly recruited athlete suffered a leg injury on his first carry of the jamboree, essentially a scrimmage against a different team.
Shumpert missed three games, then had to play some quarterback the game he returned as Luke Hobson got hurt.
Itawamba coach Toby Collums won’t have to worry about that when his team hosts Ripley in a 7:30 p.m. today in a jamboree.
Shumpert is sick and being held out. The Indians will host Saltillo to open the regular season next week.
Collums doesn’t want any of his players even thinking about injuries during a game. His staff will use tonight to measure for depth.
“It’s not so much about the guys we know what they can do. It’s for the other guys,” he said. “I don’t want them thinking about injuries. If so, their mind is probably in the wrong place to begin with.”New Albany in action
It’s been an emotional offseason for New Albany coach Ron Price and his Bulldogs after the death of his wife, Amanda, in December.
Football returns to ta united New Albany community tonight with a jamboree against Kossuth.
“We’ve got 17 seniors and they’re doing a good job leading us,” Price said. “They’re keeping everybody’s attitude pretty good.”
A Saturday scrimmage was filmed to see the mistakes that need fixing before it starts really counting on Aug. 17 against Ripley.
“I really like it like that. The kids are ready to hit somebody else and see a different opponent,” Price said. “It’s good it’s a two-quarter scrimmage. I’d hate to be playing for real but it’s good to see where you stand before you do it for real.”
The Bulldogs preseason started with four straight days of two-a-days.
brandon.speck@journalinc.com